What an action-packed weekend. There were two UFC events to cap two different Ultimate Fighter seasons - one on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia and the other in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes was first with the UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson. My co-host, English Thom, joins me on the Getting Lucky MMA podcast to shamelessly gloat over the dominance of the Brits over the Aussies throughout the season and the spectacular TKO of Ross Pearson (14-4) over Aussie coach, George Sotiropoulos (14-5). In addition, we saw Norman Parke (17-2) overcome fellow British team member Colin Fletcher (8-2) in the Lightweight Finale as well as Robert Whittaker (10-2) defeat Brad Scott (8-2), both via unanimous decision. The Whittaker-Scott fight was clearly the fight of the night, though the award and bonus money was given to a fight on the undercard. Also look for part 2 of the Getting Lucky podcast where we cover the TUF 16 finale.
Watch on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlODRSRgRj0
Episode Summary (#010, part 1): From top to bottom, the card was filled with excitement. The first fight was FotN with Cody Donovan TKO-ing Nick Penner in the first round. The was followed by a colossal fight between Mike Wilkinson defeating Brendan Loughnane via UD. The knockout of the night came next with Benny Alloway turning off the lights of Manny Rodriguez with a first round Anderson-style front kick to the jaw. Veteran Mike Pierce took a decision victory off of Seth Baczynski, newly trim and Light Heavyweight Joey Beltran decisioned Igor Pokrajac, and Chad Mendes easily KOed an overwhelmed Yaotzin Meza, a last second replacment. The main card lead off with the biggest fight of the weekend as Hector Lombard swarmed Rousimar Palhares with vicious hooks and ground-n-pound for a first round TKO. The two tough finalists were next, concluding with the four knockdowns by Ross Pearson over a game, but ultimately unsuccessful George Sotiropoulos.